Brides, you’ve probably had at least a dozen people warn you that your wedding day will absolutely fly. Every single one of them is right. Your wedding day will fly. At the same time, it might also feel like one of the longest, most exhausting days of your entire life. So I’m a big fan of making your wedding day as simple as possible and giving yourself no additional responsibilities. Here’s my list of five things you definitely shouldn’t need to be worrying about on the day of the wedding!1. Paying Balances to Your Wedding Vendors
This is a role that usually gets passed on to the best man or the wedding planner, and for good reason: The bride and groom are a teensy bit busy at the reception, and remembering to hand out checks and thank you notes to each of the wedding vendors is definitely not a task the newlyweds want to take on. So let the best man handle that. Or, better still, pay any balances due on the wedding day ahead of time and send the thank you note after the honeymoon so you’re completely focused on celebrating that day.

2. Decorating
If it can’t be done before the wedding day, the bride (and groom, too) has no business taking part in the wedding set up. Enlist friends, family, your wedding planner, and venue staff to set up all the decor — then arrive and be delighted when you see the finished product.

3. Handling Communications
Inevitably, someone will forget how to get to the church. Someone else will want to know if they can bring a last-minute wedding date. On your wedding day, hand your phone over to a close friend or family member. They can relay essential information to you, but you won’t get stuck on the phone giving out directions.

4. Planning Parts of the Wedding Day
This is something that needs to be done before your wedding day dawns! A few days before your wedding, sit down and do a mental run-through of your day. Is everything planned out, from the seating chart to the grand entrance music to who will set up the programs at the ceremony? Have a couple friends and family members do the mental run-through with you to make sure you’re not forgetting anything. And any last-minute tasks you remember can be delegated to family members or handed over to your wedding planner.

5. Cleaning Up After the Wedding
If there aren’t any items (aside from the gifts, guest book, etc.) that go back to you after the wedding, clean-up becomes simple: The venue will handle it. But if a lot of the decor goes back to your place, you’ll need to enlist a few friends or family members to load it into their cars at the end of the night. Because after you make your grand exit, you need to stay exit-ed. Head to your honeymoon. Savor finally having some time alone together to just be quiet and not have to smile and answer questions. Your wedding is one time when you can safely pass up helping with cleaning duties without feeling guilty!

~ Laura